Chilled Cucumber Avocado Soup

I’ve been making cucumber soup for as long as we’ve had a garden, which is going on 20 years now. One of the challenges of growing your own food is finding a way to turn lots and lots of veggies into breakfast, lunch and dinner. So anytime I can take an armload of produce and makeContinue reading “Chilled Cucumber Avocado Soup”

Avocado Cilantro Lime Dressing

When the lettuce is tender and the pea shoots are popping through the soil, the chives have appeared out of nowhere and the cilantro is inching upward, there is nothing better than snipping a bit of this and chopping a bit of that until there’s a plate full of goodness waiting for the right dressing to pullContinue reading “Avocado Cilantro Lime Dressing”

Mediterranean Grain Bowl

I am so loving the flexible, tasty, nutritious meal concept that is a grain bowl. I can think of so many yummy permutations: Mexican (cilantro-topped kidney beans and brown rice), Southern (grits and collard greens, with bacon and black-eyed peas), Indian, Thai, Korean. I’ll stop. But the one I’ve been stirring up this summer isContinue reading “Mediterranean Grain Bowl”

Gazpacho

As much as I love my chilled cucumber soup, you’d think I’d be a long-time fan of gazpacho. But, in truth, not so much. There are so many ways to stir up tomatoes that I’d never felt compelled to turn them into a cool dinnertime slush. But the heat this summer has made me reconsider.Continue reading “Gazpacho”

Cucumber Heaven

It’s been a few weeks now, since my husband stepped outside to our verdant, twining cucumber vine, covered with sunshiny yellow petals and a healthy dose of meandering bees, and proclaimed that it wouldn’t be long till we were in Cucumber Heaven. By that, he meant that we’d soon be reaching the height of our cucumber harvest,Continue reading “Cucumber Heaven”

Make Mine Mexican

  My husband is half Italian-American and nowhere is this clearer than the kitchen. Whether he’s stirring up marinara from a recipe encoded in his DNA or pressing pizzelle at Christmas or building his tasty sausage lasagna layer by layer, Italian cuisine is his comfort zone. My heritage is more complicated: English, German, Eastern European butContinue reading “Make Mine Mexican”

Guacamole

  Guacamole may be my favorite condiment/sauce/topping on the planet. I love the creaminess of the avocado, the kick of the peppers and the medley of flavors that the tomato, cilantro and onion bring to the plate. Like any dish, the better the ingredients, the better the end result. I want my avocados soft, but notContinue reading “Guacamole”